hi all
'It's only ten hours' is now over and it's time time to reflect on the event... (These are my personal reflections and not those of the Refugee Council)
Firstly i hope everyone's shoes have dried out - the weather truly was awful. I see a few participants are feeling a little under the weather right now too - lots of fruit,liquids and rest should see you all right as rain in no time. I will stop with the weather comments now...
The event went better then I could have hoped for. Thanks to everyone for entering into the spirit of the day -I hope you all enjoyed it.
Where would we have been without the market on Saturday... now i've always likedthe market in Birmingham but never before had I truly appreciated the deals that could be had there. 20 bananas for a £1, 12 cartons of tomatoes for £1, 15 packs of out of date mini chedders for £1, 5 bagettes for a £1... We really would have been lost without the place. We could only shop there because our £1 each was in the form of cash. If we had supermarket vouchers instead of cash where could we have shopped? Yes, Tesco on New Street... Ahh what if we had Asda or Morrissons vouchers... We would have had to walk to the nearest store and walk back in the pouring rain or sold the voucher for often less then it's face value to others just to get cash to spend in places we may want to shop such as the market.
Vouchers do not empower anyone; they restrict what people can buy and where they can buy it. They do not allow people to shop around for the best deals. They do not provide people with money to buy bus tickets or taxis - even to get to the supermarket they are forced to buy from. Often supermarkets do not stock the food certain people may want to eat and they certainly do not fund haircuts, laundrettes and warming lattes for cold rainy days. Vouchers do not empower and they severely restrict what people can and cannot do and where they can do it. it is not suprising people exchange vouchers for significantly lower amounts of cash - it simply affords people a greater freedom and choice over their own life. Therefore vouchers not only stigmatise others but they put people at risk of exploitation from those taking advantage of their circumstances - someone who receives a £35 voucher for £25 from an asylum seeker is taking advantage of a system that already penalise some of those most vulnerable people in society. For more on the vouchers debate look at http://stillhumanstillhere.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/rc_more_token_gestures_oct_2008.pdf -
On Saturday we were all in groups of four or five people. We motivated each other, we got wet together and throughout the day we worked together as a team. This helped us get through the day and stay focused and motivated. We also pooled all our £1's so we could share food. What if we had been on our own with no tasks to carry out. I personally admit I would have got very lonely, very demoralised and felt very isolated after only a short period of time. This shows the importance of support networks between asylum seekers. Befriending schemes, community networks are so important here in supporting people through the really hard times and we need to ensure that every person we support and meet through our involvement has access to some form of personal support; from 10 hours spent on the streets I can really imagine how hard it must be for those people who have no one and see no end in sight to their current circumstances.
And it was only for ten hours. Maybe that was the point and despite writing that phrase numerous times in the past month promoting the event I think it was only after the event that i truly appreciated this. We decamped to a pub, sat down and relaxed knowing we all had warm beds awaiting us. It was only ten hours and now we're back in our day to day lives - it really was nothing for us in terms of our lifes - there were people who have have been destitute when I started planning this event in April and continue to be destitute now. And yet just these 10 hours have taught me so much about what it could be like to be destitute and given me a real insight into what we as a civil and humane society should not tolerate.
Further comments and insights encouraged
Nic
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